Jeff Healey, of the Canadian based Jeff Healey Band, performs in New York's Central Park on July 1, 2000.

"It was something he fought with considerable bravery," his publicist, Richard Flohil, told Newsnet late Sunday.

Healey, 41, had lost his eyesight to a rare form of the disease, Retinoblastoma, at the age of one.

The musician had performed with such acclaimed guitar players as B. B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins and George Harrison.

His full name was Norman Jeffrey Healey and he passed away Sunday in the city of his birth, Toronto, at St. Joseph's Hospital.

Healey first began playing guitar at the age of three and formed his first band while still a teenager, according to his website. He played with a very distinctive style, laying his guitar on his lap.

"Visually, Jeff was an intriguing player to watch, because he played guitar -- by any conventional standard -- all wrong, with it flat across his lap," said Flohil. "But he was remarkable, a virtuoso player."

One of his best-known songs, "Angel Eyes," came from the Grammy-nominated album See the Light.

His blues band, simply called the Jeff Healey Band, has sold more than 1 million albums in the United States. But along with rock and blues music, Healey was also an accomplished jazz musician.

In his final years he had hosted a jazz program on Jazz-FM in Toronto, playing rare tracks from his vast collection of more than 30,000 78-rpm records.

He had also been touring with a group called the Jazz Wizards, playing American jazz from the 1920s, 1930s and early 1940s.

They had been planning to perform a series of shows in Britain, German and Holland in April.

Re: Legendary Jeff Healey Dead at 41

Hurley: (holding up a Jesus statue) I don't know. I thought there might be a prowler or something.
Mrs. Reyes: (grabbing the statue) Jesus Christ is not a weapon! - LOST "There's No Place Like Home Pt. 1

Re: Legendary Jeff Healey Dead at 41

All my life, I have felt destiny tugging at my sleeve.~ Thursday NextI don't want to "go with the flow". The flow just washes you down the drain. I want to fight the flow.- Henry RollinsAll this spiritual talk is great and everything...but at the end of the day, there's nothing like a pair of skinny jeans. - Jillian Michaels

Re: Legendary Jeff Healey Dead at 41

Me too AJ. I have been feeling sad about it all morning. I was reading more about him in the news and apparently his young 3 year old son carries the gene marker for cancer like he did I really, really liked his music and thought his guitar playing was exceptional. What a loss, and my thoughts are with his family.

Re: Legendary Jeff Healey Dead at 41

Originally Posted by canuckinchile;2822214;

Me too AJ. I have been feeling sad about it all morning. I was reading more about him in the news and apparently his young 3 year old son carries the gene marker for cancer like he did I really, really liked his music and thought his guitar playing was exceptional. What a loss, and my thoughts are with his family.

My daughter had kidney surgery when she was 5 and the little girl that she shared a room with had a form of retinal cancer. I spent a lot of time with the mom as she and I stayed at the hospital the whole time our kids were there. It was really sad. The little girl wasn't even 1 year old yet and was blind as well. I've always wondered over the ensuing 12 years what ever happened to them.